You’re helping the Earth every time you use your MetroCard. Public transit uses only half the fuel a car uses per mile. For every bus, 30 to 40 fewer cars are on the road. A packed train car carries as many people as about 100 cars!

Thanks to the MTA and New Yorkers use of public transportation, our city is one of the greenest in the world. You can use buses and subways to take you all over New York City without using a car.

Local farms are good for the environment and for us. Shipping food locally uses less energy.

Like many local farms, East New York Farms uses Earth-friendly growing practices. They avoid using chemicals, which keeps both the earth and your food clean, healthy and yummy.

East New York Farms is located on Schenck Avenue between New Lots Avenue and Livonia Avenue. You can take the 3 to Van Siclen Avenue. For more information about public activities there, checkout their website.

The roof of the Coney Island – Stillwell Avenue terminal is part of sustainable Brooklyn!

Next time you visit the beach, notice the solar panels on the roof of the Stillwell Avenue subway stop in Coney Island. These use the sun’s energy so the Transit Authority doesn’t have to buy as much power. It’s a creative way to use the roof space.

As your D, F, N, or Q train pulls into the station, you can see the solar panels with your own eyes. For more information, check out the MTA’s website with more information about green buildings, including Coney Island and solar panels on top of Roosevelt Avenue-74th Street Station in Queens.

One of the most beautiful parks in the city used to be shipping piers. Check out free movies in the summer, playgrounds and new habitats for local animals. Plus, Brooklyn Bridge Park catches storm water, cleans it and uses it to water plants when the weather is dry.

You can take the the 2/3 to Clark Street, the A/C to High Street, or the F to York Street. For more about the park and it’s offerings for children, check out their website, as well as a whole page of sustainability information.

Bikes can get you far and keep you healthy. They use muscle power instead of the fuel that powers cars. When going for a long ride for fun, use one of these scenic bike paths. You’ll be far from the cars and much safer than on the street!

The website NYC Bike Map has an online guide to all the bike paths in New York City. However, not all of them are kid-friendly. The bike paths we have marked in yellow are “greenways,” paths that are very clearly divided from the street for extra child-protection.

Have you been to Brooklyn Children’s Museum lately? The next time you’re here, grab a copy of our family guide, My Green Guide to Brooklyn.

The guide was designed by our friends at Tangerine Cafe. The idea was simple – just as Brooklyn Children’s Museum is a sustainable, kid-friendly destination, we wanted to highlight other sustainable, kid-friendly locations across our borough. This guide is part of our Green Threads initiative.

Unfortunately, the map is too detailed for us to post the full guide online, so we are going to, instead, use the next few weeks here on Teach Green in Brooklyn to share the map locations with you. And don’t forget to stop by the Museum and grab your own print copy!

And, as a preview, here’s a tiny image of what the whole map looks like. Come to the Museum to pick up a complete, two-sided copy!